


Life After

by thejokinghatter



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, But theres feels at the end, M/M, POV Bucky Barnes, POV Third Person, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), This was supposed to be pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8353525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejokinghatter/pseuds/thejokinghatter
Summary: Life after Bucky wakes up from cyro sleep





	

Bucky had gotten out off the ice two months after he went into the chamber, which was earlier than he had expected. Wanda had offered to help clear Bucky's head after Sam talked to her about how poorly the research was going, on a particularly emotional day. They had to wake him up for the proceedure and get Bucky on board with it but after an hour or two he had somewhat come around to the idea, admitting to himself that he didn't **want** to be in cyro sleep for more than he needed to be. Steve was ecstatic about Bucky waking up. Bucky wasn't so ecstatic about seeing Steve or waking up. 

The next day Bucky moved in with Steve. It wasn't his idea, nor his favorite by far, but it worked. T'challa had said it would be a great idea and Steve, of course, loved it. 

"It'll be like old times!" Steve had said, with that stupid smile that lights up the room. 

Bucky had felt like the unwanted black cloud with his thought of ' _But nothing is the **same**_.' He didn't voice the thought. Steve would have given him the Sad Eyes and Bucky hated that look. 

He was also instructed to come back to the lab during the week after, and two weeks after that, for check ups. Bucky only ever went two weeks after moving in with Steve. He doesn't like labs or hospitals. 

Sam lived about ten minutes away from Steve and Bucky but none of them had known that. Sam and Steve had always met at a coffee place halfway between their houses for their daily morning run. It wasn't until Sam went home with Steve to grab an extra gym bag that Sam made the connection between their homes. 

Steve thought it was swell. Bucky didn't really care. Sam just thought it was weird. But that had given Sam and Steve an excuse to hang out at their houses, taking turns with whose house they went to, and Bucky didn't like it. He felt like he was the third wheel in a house he didn't feel like he belonged in. So he had usually hidden himself in his room, both when Sam was over and when it was only Steve in the house. 

But then Sam started coming over when Steve wasn't even home and Bucky liked that less. Who did Sam think he was?? He had his own house to be at. Sam always invited Bucky to come do whatever he was doing with him though ( as if Bucky needed inviting, he  **lived** there for fucks sake ). And after a bit, Bucky started joining him. A bit later he actually found himself enjoying the visits and looking forward to them. 

Bucky wasn't happy about that. He didn't  **want** to form a relationship with Sam. He didn't deserve to. Sam, of course, didn't see it that way and told Bucky to stop being a dumbass and overthinking shit. 

When Steve was being Too Much Bucky would leave and go to Sam's house, telling Steve he was just going for a walk. If Sam wasn't home when Bucky got there he'd either sit outside or break in through the back and wait in the house. Eventually Sam stopped being surprised when Bucky was in his house uninvited and at some point Bucky found a key in his jacket pocket that he didn't recognize. 

It was Sam's house key. 

When Bucky said something to Sam he just shrugged.

"I'm tired of fixing my back door so I gave you a way to get in without breaking anything."

And when Bucky told Sam that that was Dangerous he laughed and said, "Man, you're gonna find a way into my house anyways. This just makes it easier for me. And you too, I guess."

Bucky liked him for that. Sam didn't give him a key out of pity. He gave it to him for his own reasons, that had little to do with Bucky. 

So Bucky started hanging out with Sam more and more, until it was odd for Bucky to not be in Sam's house when he got home from working and it was odd for him to leave before 9pm. Steve still didn't know about the daily visits to Sam's place. He just thought Bucky was going to a bar or had a girlfriend or something. He didn't push for details in fear of making Bucky leave for good. 

Bucky didn't like that. He didn't like being treated like he was broken and could fall apart any minute. Steve treated him like that. Sam didn't. Sam was sarcastic to him, made fun of him, didn't treat him like he was special. But he knew when to stop and when tone be quiet and when Bucky needed a hug or needed to be left alone. 

Bucky loved that about Sam. 

A month or so after Bucky became a daily visitor Steve told them Sam that he was leaving for a while, to talk things out with Tony. He told Sam to "Look after Bucky, okay? He's my pal and he needs someone."

Bucky didn't like that at all. He didn't need anyone to look after him. He was doing just fucking fine, not that Steve would know. Hand balled into a fist, he was about to tell Steve off even though Steve didn't know Bucky was in Sam's house ( Steve had stopped by without notice and Bucky had disappeared upstairs. He liked keeping his and Sam's time to himself ).

But then he heard Sam say "He's not a child Steve. He's not broken or useless. He can take care of himself and he's doing pretty damn good for what he's been through. You should stop treating him like he's made of glass and being held together by string" and fuck, Bucky  **loved** hearing that. He loved hearing Steve open and close his mouth like a fish out of water just as much. 

Bucky moved in with Sam the day Steve left. He didn't tell Sam or Steve. He just packed a bag, went into Sam's house without a word, and put his stuff away in the guest bedroom he slept in whenever he came over late or didn't feel like going back to Steve's place. Sam was sitting on the couch when Bucky walked in and he followed Bucky up to the room a few minutes after him. 

"Don't fuck up anything," Sam said as he watched Bucky unpack his things.

'I won't." 

"Good."

Sam left him alone after that, not bothering to offer help. He knew that Bucky could do it on his own and he knew that Bucky needed to do it on his own. Bucky came down from his room two hours later, shirtless and slightly sweating from moving the furniture around to suit his preferences. The sight made Sam choke on his drink, thought he didn't know why. 

That night spent watching shitty movies, drinking beer, and eating takeout. It felt more like home to Bucky than living in Steve's place ever did. He didn't tell Sam that though. He already knew. 

A few days after Bucky moved in Sam threw a bag at him while he was getting ready to go downstairs. It was a deep black bag with a bunch of pockets on the inside and outside.

"What's this for?" Bucky asked, picking up the satchel.

"I'm tired of hearing and seeing you take more than onebtrip up here to grab all your shit."

Bucky rolled his eyes at Sam as the darker man walked back downstairs but he put his things in the bag. He never really knew what he wanted to do so he usually brought down a bunch of different hobby materials, like beads and string, yarn and needles, pencils and paper, things like that. The bag made everything much easier to carry with one arm and Bucky no longer needed to make multiple trips.

Bucky kissed Sam that night, at the end of a cheesy movie. Sam kissed him back and it made Bucky's chest warm, like someone had light a small fireplace inside of him. Sam had tasted like home and happiness and a bit like chicken from that night's dinner. 

They fucked that night too.

Then it was Bucky and Sam, significant annoyances, instead of Bucky and Sam, slightly awkward house mates. Bucky liked it much better that way. 

But like all good things in life, it had to come to an end. Sam got called to America months later for a meeting with Stark and the government, to talk about clearing his and Bucky's names. His planed never landed. It was shot down before it was even halfway to New York. Sam didn't have his wings. There were no survivors. 

Bucky didn't hear about it until a week later, when T'challa found out and personally came to tell him. He was gone within the hour, leaving everything as it was, with a letter taped to Steve's door. 

"Don't look for me. I'll be fine. I'll find you whenever I'm ready. -Bucky"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry


End file.
